


A Dalmatian Plantation!

by chasexjackson



Series: 30 days of prompts [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Dog Walking, F/M, Fluff, Meet-Cute, Percy is a Sap and I’m not sorry about it At All, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-08-19 08:52:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16531373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chasexjackson/pseuds/chasexjackson





	A Dalmatian Plantation!

Percy had been stuck in his apartment all day, finishing up on a project for which the deadline had been extended half a dozen times but really was due on Thursday this time. He felt ansty and irritable. He’d never done well with holing up inside all day long and this was really pushing his limits.

He wasn’t, however, quite as bad as his dog.

Blackjack, the two year old black labrador, strictly required two walks a day or it was over for Percy’s furniture, floorboards, laptop, mattress, or really anything inside his apartment. He had learned the hard way and now followed a strict routine of getting up at six am to take the neediest dog alive for a run around the park, and going out once again before he went to bed. 

It was good for his own energy levels too, and the morning run meant that he started his day off feeling less lazy than he had done before he got a dog while the evening walk let him clear his mind after a usually busy day. It was a win win of sorts. But right now, with Blackjack scratching at the front door and whining like he’d been kicked, Percy felt a little more irritated than anything else. It was only three forty in the afternoon, far too early for Blackjack to be getting antsy. Percy really needed to finish this project and the screen was giving him a headache and he was on his fiftieth coffee of the day and feeling more frustrated by the second.

It wasn’t unusual for Blackjack to become whiny before his walk, but he was usually asleep during this time of day, soaking up the sunshine coming in through the window and snoring quietly in Percy’s peripheral hearing. 

“Alright, alright!” Percy muttered, saving his progress and pushing away from his desk with a much defeated sigh. “C’mon then. Let’s go for a walk.”

Blackjack immediately jumped up at him, licking his chin excitedly. Percy couldn’t help but laugh at his dog’s enthusiasm, figuring a break from work might help the juices flow a little better when he got back to it. He grabbed Blackjack’s lead and hooked it onto his collar before pulling on some sneakers and a cap to cover his messy hair and pocketing his keys. Then they were out the door and Percy was being dragged down the stairs and out into the sunshine.

Percy’s apartment was a fortunate fifteen minute walk from the park and the sun was out, so his mood didn’t take very long to improve. In fact, by the time he leaned down to unclip Blackjack’s lead, his headache had disappeared altogether. He was ready for a nice quiet walk around the park before returning home.

Blackjack, on the other hand, had quite different ideas.

It was a Monday afternoon, which meant that the park was mostly empty save for a few individuals soaking up the Fall sunshine. The park looked idyllic in the fall and Blackjack happily bounded through the crisp brown leaves as Percy strolled along behind him, hands in jeans pockets and face tilted towards the sky.

He looked back down at his dog to find that he had frozen like a statue. Percy halted too as his pulse picked up. His dog looking like that only meant one thing: chaos was about to ensue. 

The thing is, Blackjack was usually good off the leash, surprisingly so. He bounded around happily by himself, fetched sticks, allowed small children to pet him without too much exuberance, and generally returned when Percy called him. Percy had put a lot of effort into training that last one after chasing him across four busy lanes of traffic when he was just six months old, an experience he never wanted to repeat, thank you very much.

So when Blackjack stood with his ears perked up, body tensed, and tail vaguely wagging, Percy knew trouble was coming.

Before he could grab him or even shout his name, Blackjack had booked it.

Cursing under his breath, Percy followed his dog onto the green towards a woman and her dog sitting calmly on a blanket. The dog had its head resting on the owner’s lap but it perked up as Blackjack approached and Percy just about had time to yell, “Watch out!” before Blackjack crashed the party.

By the time Percy caught up, the woman was laughing as she attempted to push Percy’s over-exuberant dog off her lap. His relief was palpable. And then his heart began racing again because, damn, she was pretty. Even with dog slobber on her cheek, she was pretty.

Percy’s words died in his throat as he slowed to a walk on his approach. He ended up being saved by the stranger’s own dog greeting him instead. She was a collie, black and white and smiling as she sniffed eagerly at Percy’s pockets which hid a few treats inside them. He scratched behind her ears and grinned, before looking up to meet her owner’s eyes.

“Hi,” she beat him to it, laughing her greeting as the skin around her eyes creased and Percy’s heart galloped into lightspeed.

“Hello,” he managed. He cleared his throat, tried again. “I’m really sorry about him. He’s not usually this enthusiastic about new people.”

She laughed again. “That’s okay. I must be very appealing.”

“I mean, yeah. He spotted you guys across the park and bolted straight for you.”

“I’m flattered,” she said, grinning at Blackjack as she scratched underneath his collar. He flopped into her lap, helpless. He was such a sap, Percy’s dog was. “What’s his name?” 

“Blackjack,” Percy answered. “He’s such a sucker for a bit of attention. You’ve got a friend for life now, you know.”

She looked up as Percy caught onto his own words and swallowed thickly. Her smile was bitten and shy. Did Percy mention how pretty she was? She was very pretty. Gorgeous. 

“Doesn’t sound so bad,” she replied. 

Then she laughed because her own dog was apparently not getting enough attention and licked Percy’s ear. He rubbed her head and apologised.

“Holly,” the woman said. “She’s called Holly.”

“She’s cute. What about you?”

“Am I cute?”

Her eyes danced and Percy’s heart flipped over in his chest. 

“I’m Annabeth,” she continued, before he could stutter out a pathetic response to her non-question.

“Percy,” he replied. “Very nice to meet you. I’m sorry for ruining your afternoon.”

“You haven’t ruined it.”

“No?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Well that’s good then.”

The dogs had lost interest in Percy and Annabeth and were busy sniffing at each other, tails wagging happily. 

“Looks like a budding romance,” he said. 

“Mm. I’d hate to break it up.”

Her eye contact was purposeful as she placed a bookmark between the open pages of her paperback. Percy took the hint for what he hoped it was. 

“You, uh, you wanna join me? Um. For a walk, I mean.”

She bit her lip as she nodded. “Sure. Lemme just pack up.”

Annabeth was sharp. This was one of the things Percy learned about her very early on. Her mind was sharp as a tick. It was clear that she was fiercely intelligent, and similarly independent. Her humour was dry and quick, rolling off her tongue as she met his eyes, her own glinting with mirth. She loved teasing him, so he let her do it without much complaint. 

He would grow to learn, after that walk when he bought her coffee and they walked for far longer than he had originally set out to do and eventually parted ways with each other’s numbers firmly listed in their phones, that she was the single most determined person he had ever met. He would also learn the reasons for her independence, for the shielded exterior she kept around herself before really truly letting anybody peek inside. She’d let him in competitively easily though, she would tell him one night, with their bodies and their souls stripped bare, and Percy had closed his mouth over her confession, keeping it safe and protected. 

“You are so not a morning person,” he told her after their fourth week of dating. 

Annabeth grumbled from beneath the bedsheets. “Fuck off. I know that.”

(She was grumpy without adequate sleep, or food, or attention.)

Percy nudged their coffees onto the bedside table and climbed onto the bed, propping his body over hers. He let his nose gently nudge the side of her face before kissing her cheek. Her shoulder hitched up as she snuggled against the pillow, a slight smile tugging her lips. She looked so soft and warm that Percy just wanted to curl up next to her again. The pull was dragging him down. 

One morning off wouldn’t kill Blackjack, right?

But Blackjack wasn’t having any of it. Considering how aptly he and Holly managed to set the two of them up, both dogs seemed determined to intervene at the worst possible times. 

(Though there had been a few worse times than this.)

He leapt onto the bed with no grace whatsoever and wriggled his way between them to lick their faces all at once. 

“Argh!” Annabeth used her pillow as a shield. “Get off, you beast.”

“Which one of us are you talking to?” Percy asked as he wrestled his dog, still half way on top of her. 

She groaned. “Ugh. Your jokes aren’t getting any better.”

“Hey, you cant be mean to me. We’re still in the honeymoon period.”

“You like it when I’m mean to you.”

And okay, only a little bit. 

“I like you,” he said and she emerged from behind her pillow with a reluctant smile. 

“I like you too,” she told him. “You doofus.”

He managed to lean over and kiss her briefly before Blackjack got jealous and intervened again. 

“Alright, I gotta take this one for a walk before he tears up my apartment.”

“Mm. Don’t want you to go.” She pouted, sleepily grasping his shirt and oh if Percy’s heart didn’t grow three sizes. 

He shoved his dog away for long enough to kiss Annabeth again, lingering in the warm, dazy moment of it. Annabeth with her sheet creased cheeks and her crazy hair and her morning breath. With her hands clutching at his shirt and his neck and the shift of her body towards his through the comforter. 

(He knew he was falling in love with her, but moments like this really cemented it for him.)

Blackjack allowed them another moment before intruding again. 

“Alright, alright,” he grumbled. “C’mon, beast. Let’s go for a walk.”

Annabeth smiled sleepily as he rolled away from her. She stretched against the pillows, staying with her arms above her head and her shirt rugged up around her ribs and god that was unfair. That was just really unfair for her to look like that when he was trying to leave. 

“Hm. Did you make coffee?” she asked sleepily. 

“I did.”

He was pulling on his shoes, sitting on the side of the bed, when her hand rested on his back as she reached for her coffee. She kept it there as she took a sip and the whole scene was so domestic that Percy felt warm down to his toes. 

He loved this. He loved feeling so safe with somebody that you could let them see the hidden parts of you, the unflattering ones. He loved feeling this comfortable around somebody and the fact that it had happened so easily and so soon with Annabeth only made him love it more. It was as if they had always meant to be like this, they had just taken all this time to find each other. 

Annabeth’s hand rubbed up and down his back. 

“Mm. I’ll come with you.”

He turned his head. “You will?”

She poked his cheek. “Calm down. I swear, you’re more excitable than that dog.”

He didn’t calm down, he kissed her nose and grinned as she blushed. She was soft too, he had learned, underneath the sharpness and the carefully built walls. She was soft. 

“Holly!” she called, putting her coffee down, and then there were two dogs and two humans in his bed, which was probably too many but if you asked Percy, it felt like a family. 

When they eventually left the apartment, dressed in coats and scarves and gloves, they made their way slowly to the park. The dogs, preoccupied with each other, didn’t mind a slower pace and happily bounded off together once they were finally let off their leads. Annabeth curled close to him, both hands holding onto his arm as they meandered around the park. Percy kisses the side of her head. 

“Maybe you’re turning me into a morning person,” she said. “This is nice.”

“It’s quiet,” he agreed. “I usually run in the mornings.”

“Gross.”

He laughed. 

“But maybe I could join you,” she said. 

“Oh, so we could be one of those couples?”

Annabeth rugged him to a stop and looked up at him, her hands holding his waist. They hadn’t said any official words yet. Not out loud. And all the touches and soft mornings spoke volumes but pales next to the words that would come out of Annabeth’s mouth next. 

“I want to be one of those couples, with you.”

He smiled without even trying to stop himself. “Oh you do, do you?”

She smiled back. “I do.”

She tilted up on her toes to kiss him, cold lips pressed together, sharing warmth, sharing affection, sharing sweet words that were promises, really, of what was to come. 

____

“Such a nice ceremony.”

“Mm, yes. Very classy.”

“I thought so. She looked beautiful.”

“And his face when he saw her. He was wagging his tail so hard.”

Annabeth laughed. “Are we ridiculous for marrying our dogs?”

Percy stared at her. “Annabeth, they’re in love.”

She rolled her eyes. “Percy.”

“And who are we, to stand in the way of love?”

“I mean, nobody was standing in the way, they share a basket all the time.”

“They wanted to declare their love for each other in front of everyone they know.”

“There were five people there.” 

A few of Percy and Annabeth’s friends had wanted to witness the bizarre morning. Grover actually cried. 

“Okay, well we’ll have more people at our wedding.”

Annabeth’s eyes widened. “Oh we will, will we?”

Percy swallowed thickly. See thoughts like that bounced around in his head all the time. He was a romantic, he couldn’t help it. But sometimes they made it out of his mouth and he wanted to snatch them back, but the damage had already been done. 

“Mm.”

He tried for casual. 

(He failed.)

Annabeth poked him in the ribs. “We’ve been dating for six months, Percy. I know you’re a sap, you don’t need to hide it.”

He dropped his head back against the couch they were sitting on in her living room. “Let a guy pretend.”

“Hm. Nope.”

She climbed into his lap and fit her hands against his neck, tilting his face forwards. 

“You’re a sap,” she told him. “It’s one of the reasons I love you.”

And yeah, that happened a while back, but it still sent his pulse into overdrive. He was grinning before he knew how to stop and grabbing onto her hips as she leaned in to kiss him. 

This was slow and lazy like honey. This was a Saturday afternoon in which he did not ever want to leave the confines of Annabeth’s apartment. He wanted to spread out on this couch with Annabeth’s body pressed against his and her mouth stealing kisses from his whole the sun drooped low outside and the city turned in its lights. 

As usual though, their dogs had very different plans in mind. 

“Ugh, come on guys, give us a break,” Annabeth complained when Blackjack climbed onto her back, making an Annabeth sandwich. 

“You’d think they’d want to be uninterrupted on their honeymoon.”

“Apparently not.”

Holly stuck her wet nose into Percy’s ear, a favourite habit of hers, and he squawked. Annabeth cackled above him and he went for her ribs while Blackjack licked her neck. 

“Oh my god! Get off!”

She scrambled off the couch, kneeing Percy in the stomach as she went but he was laughing anyway. 

“Alright, alright,” he said as Blackjack turned his assault on him. 

Annabeth laughed gleefully. “C’mon,” she said, holding out a hand for him to take. “Let’s go for a walk.”

 


End file.
